18 The Management and Treatment of the Horse, 



of my readers who have wild colts ; but I contend that we 

 ouo-ht not to 'have wild colts to tame if we use them right 

 in their infancy. He says "A horse is gentled by my 

 secret in from four to sixteen hours," the time I have 

 most commonly employed is from four to six hours. He 

 goes on to say, " Cause your horse to be put into a small 

 yard or stable ; if in a stable it ought to be large to give 

 him exercise with the halter before you lead him out. If 

 the horse belongs to that class which appears only to fear 

 man, you must introduce yourself gently into the stable 

 or yard where he is. He will naturally run away from 

 you. and frequently turn his head from you, but you must 

 walk about extremely soft and slow, so that he can see 

 you whenever he turns his head towards you, which he 

 never fails to do in a quarter of an hour, or half hour at 

 most. I never knew one much longer without turning his 

 head toward me. At the very moment he turns his head 

 hold out your left hand towards him and stand perfectly 

 still, keeping your eyes upon the horse, watching his 

 motions, if he makes any ; if the horse does not stir from 

 ten to fifteen minutes, advance as slowly as possible with- 

 out any other ingredients in your hand than what nature 

 puts in it." He says I have made use of certain in- 

 gredients before people, such as the sweat under my arm, 

 to disguise the real secret, and many believed that the 

 docility to which the horse arrived in so short a time was 

 owing to these ingredients. But you see from this expla- 

 nation that they were of no use whatever. The implicit 

 faith placed in these ingredients, though innocent of 

 themselves, become faith without works, and thus men 

 remain always in doubt concerning the secret. If the 



